


Honoured

by aries_taurus



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Brooding, Discussions of War, Friendship, Gen, Rememberance Day, Sad, Veterans Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2018-05-01 06:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5195447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aries_taurus/pseuds/aries_taurus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny doesn’t realise what day it is for some reason. He doesn’t bat an eye when Steve says he’s taking Wednesday off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Honoured

**Author's Note:**

> In Canada, it's called Rememberance Day.
> 
> This year for some reason, it got to me. War. Its cost. Our vets.
> 
> So this is for all of you who served, serve, will serve. May we never see another war.
> 
> No beta.

Danny doesn’t realise what day it is for some reason. He doesn’t bat an eye when Steve says he’s taking Wednesday off.

It dawns on him when he realises Grace is of school and why.

Veterans day.

He smacks himself on the forehead, curses his stupidity.

He drives to Steve’s. He’s not there of course, won’t answer his cell phone.

So he sits in his car, waits, sleeps a bit, until he hears the truck pull up.

The sun’s getting low, starting to set, and it casts a fiery glow on Steve as he steps out of the Silverado, cover in hand. He looks drawn, exhausted.

He doesn’t speak as he passes Danny, just juts his chin towards the house. Inside, the cover gets placed on the coffee table, the jacket folded over a chair and the tie is loosened.

They end up on the beach with tumblers of whisky, something old and Scottish that tastes like peat and smoke and something Danny can’t place.

It’s a long time before Steve speaks.

“I don’t… I try not to think about it much. All the men I’ve lost. All the men I’ve seen get killed. Maimed. Legs blown off. Half a face missing and howling in pain… burning…”

He sips the whisky and Danny can’t find a word to say.

All the calls of ‘Happy Veterans Day’ suddenly taste like ash in his throat. Why would you want to celebrate it at all? Especially when he knows how the vets are abandoned by the country they served, helped protect.

He shakes his head.

“I can’t… pretend to understand what it’s like. What you’ve been through. I’m lucky though. You made it through. You’re here, and a lot of people get to go home, be free, be alive, because of you and people like you. So thank you.”

He says the words but they feel shallow, useless. The sadness, the pain, the horrors witnessed are all painted on Steve’s face and Danny knows he should feel honoured to be allowed to witness all of those emotions but he just feels useless.

“I know it’s all for the greater good but… God, sometimes… Sometimes…”

“You wish it hadn’t been you. That you wouldn’t have those things in your head. That there wasn’t the need for people like you, to do those things you had to do, that all those men didn’t have to get killed or hurt. You just wish that peace, the real thing, could exist.”

Steve nods and they don’t speak again. They drink, watching the sun disappear, both remembering the fallen and praying dawn wouldn’t bring them, or anyone else, another war.

 


End file.
